BAIBURT.
“Constantinople, Oct. 28, 1895.—Another massacre of Armenians, accompanied by the outraging of women, is reported to have occurred recently in the districts of Baiburt, between Erzeroum and Trebizond. According to the news received here, a mob of about 500 Mussulmans and Lazes, the greater majority of whom were armed with Martini-Henry rifles, made an attack upon the Armenians inhabiting several villages of that vicinity, and set fire to their houses and schools. As the Armenians fled in terror from their dwellings they were shot down as they ran, and a number of men and women who were captured by the rioters, it is added, were fastened to stakes and burned alive.
“The Armenian women who fell into the hands of the mob, it is asserted, were outraged and brutally mutilated. It is also stated that the churches were desecrated and pillaged, the cattle, and all the portable property of any value belonging to the Armenians being carried off by the marauders. During the disturbance 150 Armenians are reported to have been killed. The surviving villages applied for protection to the governor of Baiburt, who, after hearing their complaint, sent three policemen to the scene of the massacre after the slaughter was ended.
“The Turkish officials, it is claimed, know the ringleaders of the outbreak in the Baiburt district; but apparently no steps have been taken to arrest them.”
Another Letter from Baiburt.
“The Armenian bishop’s vicar was killed, the teachers in the schools and many other men and women were massacred. Women jumped into open wells to escape worse deaths; the villages round about were laid waste.
“Following this was the Erzinghan massacre. On Friday, the 25th of October, 1895, the Moslems finished their noon hour of prayer by pouring out of the mosques and attacking the Armenians in the market, who, taken by surprise, were shot and cut down to the number of 500; their shops being all plundered.”
(Signed) An American Missionary.